The media and comms industry needs colour and cultural evidence at the senior bench level
After attending last week’s Smelly Lunch Stories event, Havas Red Australia’s managing partner, corporate, Myrna Van Pelt, reflects on her own experience in the industry as a culturally-diverse leader, and asks others to take strides in championing diversity.
Fresh from attending the Smelly Lunch Stories event at Kyiv Social in Sydney last week, in what felt like a multi-coloured and multi-ethnic moment, the industry is finally starting to feel like home.
As a Eurasian, with my European genes mostly invisible, dominated by the stronger Asian genes from both my parents, I felt seen, and heard, when panellist Chris Wirasinha – Pedestrian TV and Linkby co-founder – shared his journey of being different. With a Sri Lankan heritage, he noted he liked to stand out because of his cultural difference, and that by harnessing this, he has been able to use this to his benefit. Being different, can finally be seen as a superpower.
Last week’s panelists
Bravo to Myrna for shining a light on this inconvenient truth… next time you see a photo of a Communications event on LinkedIn, look at who is representing and participating… it speaks volumes about the huge task ahead.